The first project delivered was for students of Leicester College and Stephenson College with a focus on young women. Entitled Leicester’s got Business Talent it really delivered a project true to its name. Making It! aimed to nurture young talent and encourage enterprising skills by giving the students the confidence and motivation to think and behave in an enterprising way. This approach provided the skills, tools and techniques to take what the students had been taught during the day and put into practice by creating dragons den style ‘pitches’ for a panel in the afternoon. In all 96 students benefited from the programme. The winning teams were entered into a grand final hosted at The Belmont Hotel with a gala dinner where parents and teachers joined students to hear about their ideas. An added bonus from this project was that it taught students to work effectively in teams and to develop respect towards the views and opinions of others.
Simon Heaton, Leicester College Enterprise CoVE Manager and Judging Panel Member said of the initiative: ‘The programme raised the learner’s aspirations through an interesting & challenging activity away from the everyday curriculum. A very worthwhile experience for the learners which was expertly delivered in a fresh & engaging way by an excellent professional & committed team.’
Some of the feedback from the young participants helped to highlight the learning involved for them. One student said; “the programme gave me more confidence and a belief that, anything is possible. I now have a much better understanding of some of the possibilities that businesses might offer.”
Resulting from the initial success of Leicester Got Business Talent, Making It! Teamed up with Leicester College again and Simon Heaton in particular to create a range of bespoke Leicester College Enterprise Training Events for students. Making It! are delivering their original enterprise day, adapted to enable the students to attain a wider key skill qualification with full approval and endorsement from City and Guilds as part of the new student’s induction programme. A successful pilot was delivered in June 2009 and a full programme of activity commenced in September 2009. As a result of this partnership, Making It! Were the proud winners of the Leicester College Award to Industry for outstanding contribution to the college. Making It!’s plan is to take the programme into other Further Education Colleges around the region and possibility even further afield.
Lou Gimson says: “We think this a strong initiative where students gain from the whole enterprising experience, they also gain a wider key skill qualification which brings UCAS points and it also enables young people to have access to Leicestershire’s Regional Business Link Start-up provider, Skills for Enterprise, with whom Making It! work in partnership.
Picture of ‘The Groom Room’ – Being Presented with their £100 prize and copies of ‘Making It’. The Groom Room were part of the Leicester’s Got Enterprising Talent Initiative.Lou and Alison have also made a splash in the publishing word recently. The international selling book making it – women entrepreneurs reveal their secrets of success was co-written by the pair and is featured on both the Unleashing Enterprise and Make your Mark campaign website under ‘top reads’.
The book is also used by both Harvard and Stanford Universities in the USA for their students. If you would like to see more of what Making It! can offer visit Lou and Alison’s website at www.makingit.biz